Upselling is one of the most reliable — and low-cost — ways for fast-food restaurants to increase ticket sizes. It’s a simple step to ask a customer if they would like an order of fries with their Jack burger,  or perhaps a fresh baked brownie for dessert. Or to supersize their Coke.

It’s one of the oldest and most reliable ways to deliver extra revenue. But here’s the catch: employees often fail to do it. Why?

Because they operate in hectic environments, they have lots of tasks, or they may be distracted. And some may also lack motivation. Finally, with high turnover, many don’t have the training or experience to understand how important it is.

Employees in fast-food chains only attempt to upsell 42% of the time.

Bernstein report

As a result, it’s estimated that employees in fast-food chains only attempt to upsell 42% of the time (Source: Bernstein report). This means many lost opportunities for incremental revenue.

Also, driving additional revenue per diner becomes increasingly important in inflationary times such as ours as customers choose to eat out less frequently.

Voice AI upsells 100% of the time

An AI voice assistant such as SoundHound Dynamic Drive-Thru never forgets to upsell. It is automated, but it’s also designed to be selective about when and what  it upsells. (Read more about upsell strategies and other best practices at White Castle with Jamie Richardson, White Castle’s VP of Marketing & Public Relations, and SoundHound’s Head of Channel Partnerships, Mike Lauricella). 

In addition, Dynamic Drive-Thru is multimodal, engaging customers visually and with audio. So when it suggests a brownie upsell, for example, customers not only hear the suggestion, they see a visually-enticing brownie on a crystal-clear 55-inch display.

From 42% to 100%: The Revenue Impact of AI Upselling

We analyzed the impact of increased upselling with Dynamic Drive-Thru across 1 location and across 50 locations, with all other factors remaining the same. 

Here’s what we found:

Revenue Increase at 1 Fast-Food Location (annual): $28,000

Revenue Increase at 50 Fast-Food Locations (annual): $1.4m

For our calculations we assumed that a single-location, fast-food drive-thru on average will handle 132,000 customers per year, though this may vary widely among restaurants. 

Note in the chart above, the only assumption that changes is the increase from the 42% average upsell attempt to the 100% offered by voice AI. 

Here are a few of the key assumptions:

• We assumed the average success with an upsell attempt to be a very conservative 15%, though a QSR article quoted the industry standard at 46%. So your actual results may tend to be higher. 
• Average basket size and estimated upsell values are also based on conservative estimates from our experience in the field and from feedback from merchants.

Get a custom estimate

Find out how much revenue increase you’ll see at your drive-thru locations with an AI voice assistant. To get a personal estimate, speak to one of our experts.